The Applicant Essay Questions

Where do the newly made wives come from? Explain the significance of this detail.

In one of the most corrosively bitter pieces of satire in an already sharp-edged poem, the interviewer matter-of-factly reveals that new wives are created from the remnants of previous ones. Indeed, the new wives are created from salt, left behind when their predecessors literally dissolve in sorrow following the deaths of their husbands. Thus, the interviewer implies—and takes as a given—that while the men's deaths are occasions for dramatic grief, their wives' individuality is so insignificant that they are interchangeable. The interviewer further stresses this inequality by referring to the wives as "stock" in the same line, using a collective noun to emphasize their status as undifferentiated property.

This poem is presented in the format of an interview. What is the effect of this setting?

In this poem, Plath melds two realms traditionally considered entirely separate: the romantic or domestic realm, and the corporate realm. She does so by recontextualizing the familiar process of engagement and marriage within a commercial setting. In doing so, she offers a critique of the commodification of women, suggesting that women are treated as marketable objects. This commercial setting also offers a believable justification for the interviewer's commanding rudeness, allowing Plath to hint that people marry due to pressure and fear. In general, the mixture of two different settings helps advance the argument that the two realms are similar, differing in superficial rather than essential ways.